Highway Robbery Was Once a Literal Crime
A highway is a main public road. The phrase highway robbery describes a real offence that has become a complaint about prices.
A highway is a main public road, and in law the word covers any route the public has the right to use, footpaths included. *Highway robbery* was a specific crime: robbing travellers on the open road, punishable by death in eighteenth-century England. Today it means a price you consider outrageous.
- A main public road. *A four-lane highway.*
- Any public right of way (legal). *Obstructing the highway.*
- Highway robbery — an extortionate price. *Twelve pounds for parking is highway robbery.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | highway | A coastal highway. |
| Plural | highways | Highways and byways. |
| Person | highwayman | A masked highwayman. |
| Related | motorway | The motorway network. |
| Related | carriageway | A dual carriageway. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The highway runs along the coast for eighty miles.American usage for a main road.
- The Highway Code sets out the rules.The British rulebook for road users.
- Ten pounds for a sandwich is highway robbery.Always about price.
Road words by country
- Highway — a main road, chiefly American
- Motorway — a controlled-access road, British
- Freeway / expressway — American equivalents
- Dual carriageway — two separated carriageways, British
- Byway — a minor road or track
From Old English *heahweg*, the high way — high in the sense of chief, as in *high street* and *high court*, not raised above the ground.
Why *high* way?
Because high once meant principal or important, as it still does in high street and high command.
Is a footpath a highway?
In English law, yes. A highway is any way over which the public has a right of passage, including footpaths and bridleways.